Chapter 13: Incivility, Negativity, and Bias in the Media

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Where do most American’s think news bias comes from?

A. consumer demand

B. the biases of journalists within news organizations

C. the sources consulted by reporters

D. owners

2. What are the four information biases that actually matter?

A. fragmentation, personalization, dramatization, and ideological bias

B. the authority-disorder bias, informational, personalization, and dramatization bias

C. dramatization, fragmentation, personalization, and the authority-disorder bias

D. none of these

3. Which of the following is largely to blame for negativity in campaign news coverage?

A. the norms and routines of journalism

B. the economics of news

C. the campaigns’ behaviors and tactics

D. the preferences of audiences

E. all of these

4. Of the three broad categories of media bias described in the textbook, which two are the most systematic and pervasive, according to research?

A. affective and informational biases

B. partisan and ideological biases

C. partisan and affective biases

D. ideological and informational biases

E. ideological and affective biases

5. Which of the following are worrisome possible consequences from incivility in political news?

A. public cynicism

B. inability to see credible arguments from the other side

C. distrust of government and institutions

D. none of these

E. all of these

6. Though audiences like it, critics complain about horserace coverage because of which of the following?

A. It offers little relevant information for general election voters.

B. It persuades people to like the winning candidate.

C. It crowds more substantive stories out of the small news hole reserved for politics.

D. A and C only

7. Which of the following do journalists most often list as the main reason people distrust the media today?

A. media errors

B. general mistrust of institutions

C. political polarization in mass public

D. belief that media is corporate puppet

E. all of these

True/False

1. There are some positive aspects of partisan news.

2. The fact that audiences are “active” means that there is less concern about persuasive effects from partisan news.

3. Demand-side bias comes from catering to the preferences of audiences.

4. The most pervasive and systematic effect from media bias is persuasion.

5. Affective news biases are, in part, a response to the human negativity bias.

6. Negativity and incivility are examples of information bias in news.

7. Structural media biases are far more common than political media biases.

Short Answer

1. What are the three major types of media bias that have been identified by scholarship and public debate?

2. Name and briefly define three of the four information biases.

3. What is demand-side media bias? What is supply-side media bias?

4. What are some common forms of negative political news content?

5. Describe negative consequences that may come from game frame campaign coverage.

6. What is the relationship between candidate behavior and negativity in campaign news coverage?

7. What is a thematic news frame? Briefly describe and/or give an example. What is an episodic news frame? Briefly describe and/or give an example.

Essay

1. What do we mean when we distinguish between supply-side media bias and demand-side media bias? Is one more problematic than the other? Why or why not? Which is more verified empirically? In your answer be sure to define both types of media bias and explain the difference before answering the second part of the question.

2. What is the objectivity norm? Where did it come from and what is the justification for it? What are some of the news content related consequences of the objectivity norm? On the whole, do you think the objectivity norm is a helpful thing or a harmful thing? Why?

3. Link the various information biases or structural biases we have learned about this term to the commercially oriented media system we have in the United States. Does our media system lead to the pervasiveness of such biases? How? What does all this together mean for what we get in our political news? Are there any solutions?

4. What’s more common, partisan news bias, affective news bias, or informational news bias? Which of these is most harmful from a democratic perspective? Why? What is the origin of this kind of bias? How could it be curbed?